TACLOBAN CITY- The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) is set to conduct the second round on the enumeration of households in the whole region. This was disclosed by Yvonne Abonales, chief of the policy and plans division of the DSWD-8, who said that the enumeration is slated to be held before the end of the year. The National Household Targeting System for Poverty Reduction (NHTS-PR) is in accordance with the Executive Order 867 which aims to identify who and where the poor are in the Philippines.

“The households that will be listed in this database will be our target for program implementation. All beneficiaries of social protection programs of the government should come from the NHTS-PR list,” Abonales said in an interview. As of the August of this year monitoring of the DSWD, there are 269, 167 registered/ active households in the whole region.
Once the enumeration starts in October or November, the encoding should be done by December, Abonales informed. Meanwhile, with regard to the 4Ps student beneficiaries’ issue, Abonales has clarified that beneficiaries who turns 18 are only delisted from the 4Ps (Pamilyang Pantawid Pilipino Program) but not on the database.

“If a student beneficiary turns 18, he or she can still avail of other programs offered by the DSWD as long as he or she coordinate first with their respective local government units,” Abonales said. The DSWD has more than 1,000 scholars and has already produced four graduates from Leyte Normal University (LNU) and Eastern Visayas State University (EVSU) in the past two years. At present, the DSWD has expanded the choice of universities for convenience and practical reasons especially to those scholars coming from other provinces.
The scholarship programs of the DSWD are in coordination with the Department of Education and the Commission on Higher Education.
(ROSE ANGELIE S. CASTILLANO, LNU Intern)

TACLOBAN CITY— Two business establishments and a government agency were bestowed by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) for their contributions to economic growth in the region. Recognized by the BSP on September 16 were Ktrust Commodities Inc. as outstanding respondent among large and medium firms; Business Frontier Corporation as outstanding respondent among small firms and the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) as outstanding partner on regional economic development. The abovementioned awards signify BSP’s appreciation to stakeholders that provide information and statistics, enabling the government-run financial institution gets an idea of people’s perspective on the general direction of the economy, which is significantly needed in monetary and financial policy setting. Juan de Zuniga Jr., Monetary Board Member, said that the annual giving of awards, which is now on its 11th year, is BSP’s way of expressing their appreciation to all stakeholders in helping them make their policies well anchored, their forecast more credible and their regulatory more effective. On the other hand, BSP deputy governor resource management Vicente S. Aquino said that expressed his gratitude to their partners on their “contributions in the effective delivery of the Bangko Sentral mandate to promote price and financial stability and develop a better inclusive financial system.” (JESLY MARVIE GASPAY, LNU Intern)

TACLOBAN CITY – The ongoing rehabilitation of damaged health facilities here in the region has a total fund of P322 million. This was disclosed by Doctor Jose Llacuna, regional director of the Department of Health (DOH) who added that the rehabilitation has 60% identified projects which are ongoing with 40% now on their preparation phase or bidding process. “The entire budget requirement for quick fix has been downloaded already. We expect to complete all projects by the end of 2014,” Llacuna said. The quick fix has 34 towns listed in Leyte, nine towns listed in Eastern Samar, three towns in Samar and two towns in Biliran. “By 2015, we hope to complete the construction of bigger, better and safer health facilities,” Llacuna said. A total of P1.2 billion budget was approved for rehabilitation of destroyed health facilities in the three regions of Visayas. And of this allocation, P702.76 million was recorded for health facilities and P274.86 million for equipment. The DOH reported that 1,229 facilities were destroyed by during the onslaught of supertyphoon Yolanda.
Of this number, 991 were barangay health stations, 153 were rural health units, 68, local-managed hospitals, seven city or district health centers, six retained hospitals, three private hospitals and a municipal health office.(JONA MAE ESTIL, LNU Intern)